Vehicle suspension assembly

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a vehicle suspension assembly in which an inadmissibly high axial bracing or rigging of the bearing assembly is avoided. For this purpose, the wheel support member is provided with an elastically or plastically deformable protruding rib in the region of the front face of the outer race of the rolling bearing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a vehicle suspension assembly comprisinga wheel flange member, a rolling bearing assembly having an inner raceconnected to the wheel flange member and an outer race, and a housinghaving a cylindrical bore adapted to receive the outer race of therolling bearing assembly and provided with integrally formed brakesupport means. Further, there is provided a wheel support member forreceiving the housing and screws for interconnecting the housing to thewheel support member in such a way that the rolling bearing that isreceived in the bore of the housing is simultaneously fixed and biased.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The efforts in the automotive industry to save gasoline have led to anincreased use of aluminum materials for more and more elements of avehicle. Even if these light-weight materials have advantages such ascorrosion resistance, low weight, etc., some disadvantages are observed,particularly low strength, higher thermal expansion coefficient, loweradmissible surface pressure and higher price.

In the field of vehicle wheel suspensions, so-called pivotal bearingassemblies (front) and wheel support members (rear) are used to transferthe forces coming from the shock struts (weight of the vehicle) via thewheel bearings to the wheels and, thus onto the road. Moreover,anchoring points for the steering elements, for the brake saddles aswell as for the wishbone are required. The pivotal bearing assembliesare highly stressed elements that play an important role as far as thesafety of the vehicle is concerned; moreover, they are highly exposed tocorrosion, caused, for example, by road salt.

PRIOR ART

The Published German Patent Applications DE-OS 33 40 442 and DE-OS 19538 212 disclose designs of suspension assemblies. However, a greatdanger exists that high forces generated by screwing together the partsand elements of these inventions will cause certain parts and elementsto be biased inadmissibly high, with the possible result that even stopshoulders, against which a rolling bearing is pressed may be damaged.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle suspensionassembly of the kind referred to herein before that does not show thedisadvantages mentioned herein above. Particularly, it is an object ofthe present invention to provide a vehicle suspension assembly of thekind referred to herein before in which inadmissibly high biasing anddamage to the rolling bearing assembly and/or the associated parts andelements are avoided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To achieve these and other objects, the present invention provides avehicle suspension assembly that comprises a wheel flange member, arolling bearing assembly having an inner race connected to the wheelflange member and an outer race, and a housing having a cylindrical boreadapted to receive the outer race of the rolling bearing assembly andprovided with integrally formed brake support members.

Further, there is provided a wheel support member for receiving thehousing and screws for interconnecting the housing to the wheel supportmember in such a way that the rolling bearing received in the bore ofthe housing is simultaneously fixed and biased.

According to a first aspect of the invention, the aforementioned wheelsupport member is provided with a protruding rib or shoulder that isresiliently deformable. The protruding rib or shoulder is located in theregion of the front face of the outer race of the rolling bearing. Theprotruding rib or shoulder is resiliently deformed upon screwingtogether the housing and the wheel support member.

According to a second aspect of the invention, the aforementionedhousing is provided with a protruding rib or shoulder that isplastically deformable. The protruding rib or shoulder is located in theregion of the front face of the outer race of the rolling bearing. Theprotruding rib or shoulder is plastically deformed upon screwingtogether the housing and the wheel support member.

Due to the fact that the rolling bearing assembly is press-fitted in ahousing that also comprises integrally formed brake support means, e.g.brake support arm members or brake support connection apertures, a goodfit of the bearing assembly can be realized. Moreover, such an assemblycan be optimized as far as its strength is concerned. The wheel flangecan consist of aluminum material, cast iron or steel and can beoptimized for light weight. Particularly advantageous is that therolling bearing assembly is simultaneously fixed and biased in a welldefined manner by virtue of axially screwing together the wheel supportmember and the housing. Due to this biasing of the rolling bearingassembly, micro movements and cracking noises are avoided since part ofthe moments occurring during driving through bends are axiallytransmitted through the bearing front faces.

Furthermore, such a design has the further advantage that differentbrakes and sizes of wheel bearings can be combined with one kind of apivotal bearing assembly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, two embodiments of the vehicle suspension assemblyaccording to the invention will be further described, with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of a vehiclesuspension assembly according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a lateral view of the vehicle suspension assembly of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 shows a cross sectional view of a portion of the vehiclesuspension assembly of FIG. 1 in a larger scale;

FIG. 4 shows a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of a vehiclesuspension assembly according to the invention before assembly of thevehicle suspension assembly; and

FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of the second embodiment of avehicle suspension assembly according to the invention after assembly ofthe vehicle suspension assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In FIGS. 1 and 3, there are shown cross sectional views of a firstembodiment of a vehicle suspension assembly according to the invention.As can be seen from the drawings, the vehicle suspension assemblycomprises a wheel bearing assembly 1 and is designed as an integratedbuilding block. The rolling bearing 2 and the wheel flange 3 areconnected to each other by a positive connection. The rolling bearing 2is pressed into a bore of the housing 4. The housing 4 is provided withtwo brake support arm members 5 that are integrally formed with thehousing 4. It is understood that the wheel flange also can carry a brakedisc (not shown in the drawing). The housing 4 can consist of high-gradenodular cast iron (GGG) or of steel. Thus, the housing 4 is strongenough to take the wheel bearing and the braking forces. Moreover, thehousing 4 provides a good fit for the rolling bearing 2. Since nodularcast iron and steel used in manufacturing rolling bearings both havesubstantially the same thermal expansion coefficient, micro movementsand cracking noises are avoided.

The housing 4 with its wheel bearing assembly 1 is connected to thewheel support member 7 by means of screws 6. The wheel support member 7preferably consists of aluminum and is provided with a circumferentialprotruding rib or shoulder 8. The rib or shoulder 8 of the embodimentshown in FIGS. 1-3 is resiliently deformable. Thus, if the housing 4 isconnected to the wheel support member 7 and the screws 6 are tightened,the rib or shoulder 8 is resiliently deformed and rests against theouter race 1′ of the rolling bearing 2 to put it under axial bias. Inthis way, any cracking noises are avoided.

Even if the protruding rib or shoulder 8 is shown as being part of thewheel support member 7 according to FIGS. 1 and 3, it is understood thatthe protruding rib or shoulder 8 could be part of the housing 4 (notshown). Thus, inaccuracies that may be caused by the double fit areequalized and an inadmissibly high bracing or rigging of the outer race1′ of the rolling bearing 2 upon tightening the screws 6 is avoided.Additionally, the danger of a break of the supporting flange 4′ of thehousing 4 is substantially reduced. A sheet metal cover member 9,preferably also made of aluminum, protects the rolling bearing fromcontamination.

In FIG. 2, the vehicle suspension assembly of FIG. 1 is shown in alateral view whereby, for simplicity's sake, only the wheel bearingassembly 1 and the housing 4 with the brake support arm members 5 andthe wheel support member 7 are designated.

In FIG. 4, there is shown a cross sectional view of a second embodimentof a vehicle suspension assembly according to the invention beforeassembly. FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of the second embodimentof a vehicle suspension assembly according to the invention afterassembly. The design of this second embodiment is very similar to thatof the first embodiment. Thus, corresponding parts and elements havebeen designated with the same reference numerals.

As can be clearly seen in FIG. 4, the wheel support member 7 is providedwith a circumferential protruding rib or shoulder 8′ that is plasticallydeformable, in contrary to the rib or shoulder 8 of the first embodimentwhich is resiliently deformable. The plastically deformable rib orshoulder 8′ presses only with a predetermined force onto the outer race1′ of the bearing assembly 1, 2 upon tightening the screws 6 (FIG. 5).

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle suspension assembly comprising: a wheelflange means; a rolling bearing means having an inner race meansconnected to said wheel flange means and an outer race means; a housingmeans having a cylindrical bore for receiving said outer race means ofsaid rolling bearing means, said housing further having integrallyformed brake support means; a wheel support means for connecting to saidhousing means; and screw means for interconnecting said housing means tosaid wheel support means in such a way that said rolling bearing meansreceived in said bore of said housing means is fixed in said housingmeans; one of said wheel support means and said housing means havingprotruding means that is resiliently deformable and located in theregion of a front face of said outer race means of said rolling bearingmeans.
 2. A vehicle suspension assembly according to claim 1 in whichsaid deformable protruding means is an annular rib or shoulder.
 3. Avehicle suspension assembly comprising: a wheel flange means; a rollingbearing means having an inner race means connected to said wheel flangemeans and an outer race means; a housing means having a cylindrical borefor receiving said outer race means of said rolling bearing means, saidhousing further having integrally formed brake support means; a wheelsupport means for connecting to said housing means; and screw means forinterconnecting said housing means to said wheel support means in such away that said rolling bearing means received in said bore of saidhousing means is fixed in said housing means; one of said wheel supportmeans and said housing means having protruding means that is plasticallydeformable and located in the region of a front face of said outer racemeans of said rolling bearing means.
 4. A vehicle suspension assemblyaccording to claim 3 in which said deformable protruding means is anannular rib or shoulder.